1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a correction data generation method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, digital printers employing an electrophotography process have been increasingly used in the field of production printing. Therefore, there is a demand to improve image quality and reliability in the digital printers employing the electrophotography process.
Furthermore, a digital printer employing the electrophotography process includes a photoconductor drum with a surface that functions as a photosensitive scanning surface, a light source that emits laser light, a polygon mirror that deflects the laser light from the light source, and a scanning optical system that guides the laser light deflected by the polygon mirror to the surface (scanning surface) of the photoconductor drum. The digital printer employing the electrophotography process modulates a light flux emitted from the light source in accordance with image data, irradiates the scanning surface with the light flux from the light source, and scans the scanning surface with the light flux, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image data on the photoconductor drum.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2014-164202 describes a related technique.
Incidentally, if there is eccentricity or a shape error in the photoconductor drum, charging unevenness may occur on the surface of the photoconductor drum. If such charging unevenness occurs, the density of attached toner may vary even when a latent image is formed on the photoconductor drum with a constant intensity. Therefore, the digital printer employing the electrophotography process needs to correct the intensity from the light source in accordance with a position on the surface of the photoconductor drum in order to prevent unevenness of the image density.
In view of the above, there is a need for an image forming apparatus and a correction data generation method capable of correcting the intensity of a light source with accuracy to generate a high-quality image.